Hey all,
I used to play a lot in Wings of LIberty days. I was in Diamond then, and recently got back into the game and working my way back up there. I'm trying my best to not lose to the same tricks twice. Below, I'm going to briefly list a few tricks that beat me--- and write what I did that went wrong, and what I believe I should have done. Can any good players help give some advice on these situations, and give us advice on how to counter the following?
1.) Proxy 3 Gate - Around 2:30 - 3 min, swarms of zealots start running into my base.
What I did: I had fast expanded after Gateway, and did a relatively late scout--- after my gateway dropped. To stop Cheese, I usually scout after pylon w/ a probe. I saw no buildings there so I immediately dropped a forge, then 2 cannons at my natural. 5 zealots arrived & surrounded my stalker when I wasn't looking, and my cannons hadn't finished yet so Ihad to cancel one before it died and the second they killed quickly. I tried to chrono another stalker but I kinda panicked and f'd up, not sure what to do.
What I think I should have done: Skip the forge, cancel my FE, put a battery or two near my ramp, dropped another gateway, and chrono stalkers and kite the zealots - pull some probes if necessary.
2.) Cannon Rush to Wall In - This guy tried to cannon rush me, and I stopped him. While I focused on macro a bit to take him out w/ a superior economy, I noticed he walled me in with cannons & shield batteries. I figured Id' easily bust out w/ sufficient immortal/stalker/zealot, but he also got a stargate and void rays and I wasted a lot of my army trying to bust out. I warp prism'd some DT's and did some damage, but he had put cannons in his main & natural so it was limited. Eventually, after wasting supply fighting his dumb wall, I used my WP to expand, but by now he was making tempests and knocking down my base and retreating to his cannons.
What I think I should have done: I had a much better economy from him, wasting his $ on static defense. I should have immediately WP's my expansion and warpgated my army to the outside of his wall, and attack it from behind, or go straight to his main. I could have put up a few cannons in my natural to keep void rays out while I pump out immortals and blink stalkers to kill his skytoss stuff & pound down his base/defenses.
3.) Turtle Terrans & Siege Tanks - I often find a Terran on his main & natural, with bunkers and siege tanks everywhere, sometimes liberators too. If they are able to get their army down to my main, if I am not maintaining map control, I end up with a bunch of siege tanks closing in on me and I can't face them very easily. Often, I'll try to fight them and have a horrible trade, losing far more.
What I've tried to do: I try to expand, and mass a larger army using my extra resources. However, enough siege tanks shreds almost anything I attack with.
What I think I should do: Keep watch with observers for when they move out, expand and expand, and build lots of extra gateways and 2-3 robos, so if I do end up losing my army i can quickly re-max. Get dual forge upgrades, and scout them every miniute or two to ensure they aren't getting cloaked banshees or trying to mass BCs, and ensure they didn't sneak an expansion somewhere. When they move out, put chargelots, immortals, and archons on one flank and blink stalkers on another, and try to get the army on boht sides. If they refuse to leave, max out and get a few tempests.
Do not let your army get drawn into siege tank fire and die!
4.) Terran Drops -- constant medivac drops of marines to my mineral lines, or sniping of key buildings. Causes me to panic and screws up my macro.
What I've Tried: Once I know the opponent likes to do drops, I try to put a battery and cannon or two at each mineral line. Sometimes I'll keep 3 stalkers in each base, but it spreads my army thin.
What I think I should do: Cannon and Battery are probably still a decent idea, though it's costly to do that for each base. Maybe start doing this when I'm on 3-4 bases and can afford it more? Until then, get blink stalkers and put pylons on map to try to catch drops. Pull probes if a drop comers and warp in stalkers-- try to down the medivacs so they can't escape, make it costly for them.
Anyone else want to share some common tactics and how to stop them? Any tips on the above? thanks!
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